Lael Atkinson | Beyond Shrinking & Drinking
Hi, I’m Lael
For years, I found myself stuck in a cycle of restriction, bingeing, drinking, and deep shame. At the time, these behaviors felt like ways to cope with life. And in some ways, they were. But eventually I realized they were coping mechanisms with consequences I was no longer willing to live with.
I parted ways with alcohol without identifying as an alcoholic — a label that simply didn’t resonate with me personally. And I began addressing my disordered eating and body image struggles without receiving a formal diagnosis.
I share that because if labels work for you, great. But you don’t have to identify as an alcoholic or have a “full-blown” eating disorder to start questioning whether your coping tools are still serving you.
You’re allowed to get curious about your relationship with alcohol, food, or your body — simply because something doesn’t feel right anymore.
During my journey, I met so many people who found themselves at the intersection of struggling with alcohol and with disordered eating or body image issues.
Yet I could rarely find resources that spoke to both.
I kept wondering how something so common could be talked about so little.
So often, recovery can feel like playing whack-a-mole — pushing down one coping strategy only to see another pop up in its place.
As whole human beings, it never made sense to me to compartmentalize our struggles. But that’s often how they’re portrayed, as if these experiences rarely overlap.
I also noticed how many cultural narratives around addiction and eating disorders reinforce the idea that only people with the most extreme, life-ruining presentations deserve support.
That's simply not the case.
Many of us — in fact, most of us — struggle quietly with our relationship to substances, food, or our bodies for years.
But we shouldn’t have to wait until our lives fall apart to be worthy of help.
How well we’ve adapted to chaos, pressure, or trauma should not determine when we are allowed to receive care.
Why I Do This Work
Because I know how easy it is to believe you’re the only one caught in these patterns.
The truth is, many people are navigating the same quiet struggles with alcohol, food, and their bodies — often without language, resources, or support that speaks to the full picture.
I do this work so people know they’re not alone — and that change is possible.
Today, I’m dedicated to helping people see what’s possible when they stop playing small and begin reclaiming their lives from the cycles that keep them stuck.
My mission is to bring hope to people who sense there must be another way of being — but struggle to find it in a culture that often normalizes the very behaviors that perpetuate our pain.
If you see yourself in parts of this story, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to untangle these patterns by yourself.
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Credentials and Certifications
In addition to my lived experience, I am a Certified Professional Recovery Coach, Certified Body Trust® Provider, Certified Professional Coach, and National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist. I am also both trauma-informed and IFS-informed.
As a Certified Professional Recovery Coach and National Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist, I am trained to support clients recovering from alcohol and substance use, using a strength-based, stigma-free approach that puts the person at the center of their recovery.
As a Certified Body Trust® Provider, I am part of a community of specialists who are advocating for and/or providing compassionate, weight-inclusive models of care. Body Trust® is both a radical paradigm shift for helping professionals and a specialized, practical intervention for healing body shame and disordered eating that addresses internalized weight stigma and moves towards resilience and liberation from individual, cultural and systemic body oppression. Certified Body Trust Providers are multi-disciplinary professionals who have completed a rigorous and intensive training. They are dedicated to speaking on behalf of justice and inclusion. To become certified, Body Trust® Providers agree to not promote dieting, specific food philosophies, or promise weight loss.
As a Certified Professional Coach, I am trained to partner with clients in moving from their present situation to a future they desire – one that is aligned with their personal motivations and values.
I have over 2,500 hours of professional training. That said, I view all accreditation with a critical eye, and believe everyone is ultimately the expert on their own experience.